Day 1 (June 4th into June 5th)

In laws picked us up at the house and drove us to the airport along with Fuzzy. We had a 4:30 PM flight to Frankfurt, Germany (seats 1a and 1c). I watched Rocky Balboa which was better than I expected. Both Al and I didn't sleep well. Flight was a little bumpy but the food was good. I had a Bloody Mary and two Warsteiner beers. We arrived in Frankfurt at 8:00 AM local time on June 5th. We then had connecting flight to Dusseldorf at 8:40 AM. Flight time from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf was 35 minutes. Total flight time from Atlanta to Dusseldorf was 10 hrs and 18 minutes. We looked for a cab at the airport that took credit cards and it took about 30 minutes to get to the Schaper Apartment. Our apartment is about 400 square feet with a separate bathroom and a little kitchenette area (see above picture). There is no AC so you have to open up the windows and use fans. We walked near Al's office and found a restaurant to have lunch at. This was our first German meal. We looked at the menu and had no clue what it said. We asked the waitress for chicken or beef dishes. I ended up having warm sliced chicken over sliced potatoes with vinegar and pumpkin oil. Al had asparagus with melted cheese on a toasted rye bread. Al then went to work and I walked around for 4.5 hours. I went to the Hofgarden and all over the east side of town. I started to price out prepaid cell phones since our US phones didn't work in Germany. I met Al back at the apartment and we ate dinner down the block at Casa Luigi. It was a good meal and Luigi came over and said hello. I had a tuna dish with a sweet and spicy sauce along with a salad and Veltin Beer (beer was just ok). We walked around the promenade on the Rhine and then went back to the room and passed out.